They'll make an artist out of you! (Copic Ciao Marker)

Member Name: daisychaingirl

Product:	Copic Ciao Marker
Date:	15/07/09 (327 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, stunning effects, no pen strokes/lines.

Disadvantages: Quite expensive.

Copic is a brand of marker pen made in Japan by Too and they are used by many Manga artists. They are alcohol based, low odour, dry quickly, and create vibrant, solid blocks of colour. The amazing thing about these markers is that they colour 'flawlessly' - you won't see any pen strokes and lines in the area you colour.

There are 3 ranges of Copic pens - the original marker, the Sketch marker and the Ciao marker. The Ciao range is the least expensive at around £2 per pen when bought individually. There are 143 colours in the Ciao range and 1 colourless blender pen. You can buy from many online stores and they are usually sold in packs of 5, 12, 36 and there are 2 packs of 72 available (these 2 packs of 72 will give you the entire range). To buy a pack of 72 it will set you back around £115-£130 depending on which shop you buy from, so i recommend shopping around for the best price. If all 144 markers are bought individually it will cost you around £288 which is a frightening amount when put like that, but buying one at a time means you can pick the exact colours you want.

Copic markers can be used on many surfaces including paper, leather, wood, fabrics, plastic, and many more. However the papercrafting world has caught on to them and they are now very popular amongst cardmakers and scrapbookers. They can be used to colour in rubber stamped images and the results are amazing. Because they are alcohol based markers, you will need to use a dye based ink pad to stamp your image to be coloured or the image will 'bleed' and run when the marker ink comes in to contact with it. The best range of ink pads to use is Tsukineko Memento. You will also find that Copics will soak through very thin card and so i recommend using either a Copic marker pad that can be bought seperately, or fairly thick card.

Copics can be used in singular blocks of colour to create striking results and they can also be blended to create a more 3D effect to your image. Having the colourless blender pen comes in handy for this as it lightens the areas you use it on and you can therefore create shading with it. I would also recommend buying 2 or 3 shades of the same colour - e.g. a light pink, pink, darker pink. You can then 'layer' the colours to add dimension and is a technique i like to use.

Although they seem expensive, these pens are a great investment. They are refillable so you never have to throw a pen away and buy another, you just replace the ink. The pens are dual ended (one broad tip for large brush strokes and one chisel tip for detailed colouring) and tips are also replaceable if you should ever need to change one. This makes them environmentally friendly too!

I love how these pens make the images on the cards i make really stand out. They have a really professional look and make me look like i'm skilled, which i'm certainly not! They are so easy to use and compared to other mediums like watercolours, i find that i can colour an image much quicker with them. The other things i LOVE about these markers is that i can colour coordinate all the other embellishments on my card with my image if i choose. I use them to colour paper flowers and they will even colour brads, buttons, peel off stickers and ribbon to name just a few!

Summary: If you're like me and want to try something different to watercolours and pencils, give these a go!